Arch Linux

wickyd

Member

Registered: 2007-02-21

Posts: 23

[Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

Hi folx

I am trying to install Archlinux on a IBM Netfinity 5000 server (Dual PIII, SCSI Raid Array, 1024MB RAM).

I am able to boot from the 2008.06 ISO that I created. Arch gets as far as enumerating the USB devices and then goes into a kernel panic where it states that it can't mount the cdrom. At this moment the installation is dead.

What I find strange is, how can Arch not boot the cdrom when I am already in the installation process which started by initially reading the cdrom?

I am able to boot an older version of Fedora on the same hardware, which tells me that the hardware is ok.

Does anyone have an idea how to resolve this problem?

Thank you.

Kind regards
wickyd

Last edited by wickyd (2009-02-10 07:25:36)

perbh

Member

From: Republic of Texas

Registered: 2005-03-04

Posts: 765

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

Hmmm - it _could_ be a device problem.
I believe it was around 2008.06 that the change was done from hdX to sdX.
You might find that in your bios, it's possible to change the id (as it were) of your block devices(cd's, hd's) so that they are in 'emulation' or 'legacy' mode.
Just a shot in the dark ...

wickyd

Member

Registered: 2007-02-21

Posts: 23

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

Hi perbh

Thank you for your suggestion. Just to let you know, a colleague pulled out an old copy of Fedora (Version 6) and it was able to install on this hardware, so I am wondering if there is possibly a boot option that I can use that would let Arch know where to look for the cdrom?

perbh

Member

From: Republic of Texas

Registered: 2005-03-04

Posts: 765

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

Yeah - that was more or less my point. If you use a more recent fedora, you probably will not be able to install it. I have had this kind of problem in the past with some Thinkpads, where I had to enable 'legacy' mode in the bios.
These days - harddisks and cd's are almost exclusively seen as 'sdX' ...
You might have more luck with a more recent cd-image though (maybe from testing?)

ghoti

Member

Registered: 2008-07-20

Posts: 11

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

Hi wickyd,

I experienced the same thing on my Thinkpad X60s with Archlinux 2008.06, Dreamlinux 3.5r4, and the beta release of Mepis 8. In the end, I had to install an older version of Archlinux on that laptop, and then upgraded the system to the latest packages before I installed anything else (see http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=59175).

Good luck,
Ghoti 8)

wickyd

Member

Registered: 2007-02-21

Posts: 23

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

Hi ghoti

Thank you for the suggestion. I am busy installing 2008.03, but now I encounter a different problem. While using Auto-prepare, I encounter the following on tty5:

Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...
BLKRRPART: Device or resource busy

This disk is currently in use

Uh, the Arch Linux installer is currently using the disk
I can assure you that there is nothing using the disk, nor is there anyone connected to the server.

How do I resolve this? The help suggests that I unmount all the partitions and use swapoff. How am I supposed to do this when I have not mounted anything to start with? Is there any way of checking if anything is in fact mounted?

Thank you.

wickyd

Member

Registered: 2007-02-21

Posts: 23

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

After hunting around the Newbie Corner I found help on this step. The installation found the partition that was created when I installed Fedora previously. I deleted that partition with cfdisk and rebooted after it requested that I do so.

I am now stuck with the install as it claims that it can't find the CDROM.

One step at a time.

wickyd

Member

Registered: 2007-02-21

Posts: 23

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

After much searching online, it seems that this is a common problem with this server. I have unfortunately not been able to find a solution besides:

1. replace the cd-rom
2. use an external cd-rom

A solution definitely exists, because Fedora Core 6 was able to install from CD on this hardware.

I have decided to sidestep this problem and install via FTP. I will close this thread if the FTP install is successful.

wickyd

Member

Registered: 2007-02-21

Posts: 23

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

I am not able to use 2008.06 core because it kernel panics, nor 2008.03 ftp because it dumps me to the grub bootloader without getting to the install.

I am able to use 2008.03 core, which allows me to install via ftp. I have no choice but to use schlunix.org as they are the only mirror that I was able to find that has the packages.txt file.

Now, it won't go any further as it gives me the error: 'hwdetect' not found in sync db.

Where do I go from here?

wickyd

Member

Registered: 2007-02-21

Posts: 23

Re: [Solved] Kernel Panic, Installation can't mount the cdrom, IBM server

The solution was to go back to the package selection and deselect the hwdetect package.

The rest of the installation went smoothly.

ghoti, thanks for the help with your Thinkpad topic.